Chairman’s motion for closed session on registrar evaluation not seconded as board disputes and seeks legal opinion

Chairman Lawrence Clark proposed that the Charlotte County Electoral Board enter a closed session to complete the evaluation of the Interim Registrar, but the motion failed to advance after it was not seconded.

Secretary Glenwood Foster told the chair he would no longer argue about the evaluation and said he would submit his evaluation separately, as he had done the prior year. Foster said there are problems that need to be addressed with the Registrar and that the chairman’s evaluation differed from the Secretary’s and the Vice Chairman’s.

The discussion shifted to whether the board had sought legal guidance. Foster said the board had decided to seek an opinion from the County Attorney and described circumstances in which staff had asked whether the County Attorney could assist. Chairman Clark disputed having been part of that discussion and said he had spoken with the sheriff, who — Clark said — told him the county provides one free use of the County Attorney per year and that it had already been used. According to the transcript, Mr. Witt subsequently contacted the County Attorney and received a decision; the transcript does not record the content of that decision. Mrs. Violet Fane reacted angrily in the meeting when the sequence of events was recounted.

No formal personnel action or closed-session vote was recorded in the transcript. The motion to enter closed session was not seconded and thus did not proceed; the meeting continued with other agenda items and later adjourned.